AIR Offices
Photo · Ossip van Duivenbode
An exterior facade precedent for combining a transparent, high-visibility retail storefront with a rhythmic, deeply recessed upper-level office window system.
- What we like about this project
- The central upper glazing bay group mirrors surrounding high-rises, blending the building facade with the surrounding urban skyline.
Materials
- glass
- metal-panels
- stone-pavers
- aluminum
Visual identifiers
- metal-window-bays
- retail-storefront
- panelized-facade
- vertical-rhythm
Style tags
- contemporary
- commercial
- rationalist
Visual tags
- commercial-office
- retail-base
- urban-facade
- contemporary
- metal-panels
- Geometry
- Symmetrical composition featuring a wide double-height glazed retail base below an orthogonal upper mass articulated with deep vertical metal-clad window bays.
- Facade system
- Panelized rainscreen system on the upper floors with recessed extruded metal window frames; structural glass storefront system on the ground floor.
- Structural guess
- Steel or concrete frame with non-loadbearing exterior curtain wall and rainscreen cladding.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story commercial building frontage with a human-scaled retail ground floor.
- Lighting
- Bright daylight with direct sunlight hitting the upper facade panels and soft shadows in the recessed window reveals.
- Atmosphere
- Clean, active urban daylight environment grounded by retail vitality at the street edge.
- Environmental context
- Urban pedestrian plaza or street edge with neighboring high-rise context and mature trees.
- Spatial experience
- The pedestrian approach presents a transparent, open storefront at eye level transitioning upwards into a heavily modulated, solid-appearing office facade.
- Composition rhythm
- Repeating vertical window bays establish a steady cadence across the upper white panel facade, interrupted centrally by a wide multi-panel glazed opening.
- Style reading
- Contemporary commercial architecture
- Program
- Mixed-use office and retail building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- glass, metal-panels, stone-pavers, aluminum
- Visual identifiers
- metal-window-bays, retail-storefront, panelized-facade, vertical-rhythm
- Style tags
- contemporary, commercial, rationalist
- Visual tags
- commercial-office, retail-base, urban-facade, contemporary, metal-panels
- Geometry
- Symmetrical composition featuring a wide double-height glazed retail base below an orthogonal upper mass articulated with deep vertical metal-clad window bays.
- Facade system
- Panelized rainscreen system on the upper floors with recessed extruded metal window frames; structural glass storefront system on the ground floor.
- Structural guess
- Steel or concrete frame with non-loadbearing exterior curtain wall and rainscreen cladding.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story commercial building frontage with a human-scaled retail ground floor.
- Lighting
- Bright daylight with direct sunlight hitting the upper facade panels and soft shadows in the recessed window reveals.
- Atmosphere
- Clean, active urban daylight environment grounded by retail vitality at the street edge.
- Environmental context
- Urban pedestrian plaza or street edge with neighboring high-rise context and mature trees.
- Spatial experience
- The pedestrian approach presents a transparent, open storefront at eye level transitioning upwards into a heavily modulated, solid-appearing office facade.
- Composition rhythm
- Repeating vertical window bays establish a steady cadence across the upper white panel facade, interrupted centrally by a wide multi-panel glazed opening.
- Style reading
- Contemporary commercial architecture
- Program
- Mixed-use office and retail building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture